The Magic of Spray Paint: Old Lamp and Brass Headboard Get New Life

I mean, how else could I have this awesome “new” lamp and headboard for my daughter’s room and hardly spend a thing?!

So let’s chat about that bed first, shall we?

O. M. Geeeee.

I was on Facebook one day, and lo and behold, on our town’s Yard Sale page, a woman posts a brass twin headboard for $20.

TWENTY. DOLLARS.

And I needed a headboard something fierce. It was like the stars were all aligning and my fingers couldn’t type I’LL TAKE IT!!! fast enough.

Thirty minutes later, this puppy was in my house.

I ran to Lowe’s, and picked up these stars of the show:

That’s Berry Frost on the left and clear protective spray on the right. You might notice the pink is gloss finish, the clear stuff is satin. That was on purpose. See, I wasn’t really going for the SUPER gloss look, but that color doesn’t come in satin. So since I wanted to protect it anyway, I bought that one in satin, to kind of dull the gloss a little. Worked perfectly.

I took the bed outside, roughed it up just a tad with with some fine sandpaper, cleaned off the dust, laid it on a huge old bedsheet, and gave it a 2 or 3 coats of pink – until I couldn’t see any more brass.. Once it was dry, I gave it two coats of the clear coat. Once it was good and dry, I brought it in. It is STINKY, so I kept it in the laundry room for a couple days.

Once the weekend came, Mr. ND helped me screw it into our bed frame, and we were good to go! BRAND NEW BED for less than $30. I mean.

Come on.

Girlfriend adores it. It is pink after all. And pink = awesome.

Now, onto that rockin’ wall lamp.

It’s been sitting in our storage room, collecting dust, for a couple years now. It used to be in our family room, before the makeover, and I always liked it. Just waiting for a place to put it.

I liked it in the state it was in, but since it would work well in my girl’s room, I decided to just go for it and spray it.

So I taped up the top part that I didn’t want to get sprayed, and the cord. Took it outside and sprayed it with Valspar Paint and Primer in One in Satin White. Did the clear coat thing too, just as I did for the bed.

Mounted it to the wall, and it’s a fun bedside light, perfect for reading at night. The arm can be pulled out to be right above her, or perfectly fine just staying in position.

I did get a new shade, since the one that went with the lamp is long gone (THAT I did NOT like). 😉

I picked up a white drum shade from Target, and used blue ribbon to bring some color. Since it’s next to the pink bed, I didn’t want anything too loud and crazy. This seemed to be just the right amount of color, and it brings out the blue in the butterfly canvas. Wanna hear something cool? The ribbon came from my bedroom pillows from Home Goods – it was a set of two, and the pillows were bound together with this ribbon! I thought it was too pretty to trash, and it was the EXACT color for her room. How’s that for a trash to treasure story!?

The drum shade isn’t a perfect round top and bottom, so the ribbon was a little tricky to get on there evenly. I dabbed a tiny smidge of hot glue on the bottom rim on the back (always do it on the seam), wrapped it around, then dabbed a bit more to secure the piece in place. Repeat on the top of the shade, and you’re done!

The back ain’t so pretty on this one, but shhhh….no one’s gotta know ’bout that!

Just bought one of these brass headboards just like this one,
at our local Goodwill for four dollars! Score! I painted it black since I have a” white doors with black doorknobs” theme throughout our little cottage in Wyoming. Came across your example and went for it. Thanks so much for your post. Love the lamp, too. I have one just like it ready to spray paint. Gotta love spray paint. It’s become my new best friend over the years!

Welcome

Hi there! I’m Liz, a former teacher-turned-stay-at-home mom to three kids, with a passion to create a warm and inviting home on a budget. This blog all started when I’d put the babies down for a nap, and squeeze in a project during those precious couple of hours! My hope is that you visit this page and feel inspired to do a little “naptime decorating” of your own. Thank you so much for stopping by!